Tag Archives: artist

Alaska Day 8

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Last day. This day made Anchorage not so bad. But still… Anchorage is ick.

  • Went to the Anchorage market and met some cool local artists.
  • Watched salmon fishermen in the local waters
  • Went to the Anchorage Museum (Art and Culture stuff)
  • Hit up a few local artists galleries/shops
  • Champagne and oysters at Bubbly Mermaid
  • Zazu drink and fries at Tequila 61

After many failed attempts to see a moose, and one blurry shot from earlier in the week of a baby moose, we finally saw one near the airport on our way out. The below poem was written when we saw the baby moose. But it feels fitting to put here. 

THE ELUSIVE MOOSE
The elusive moose is a mamma moose 
And she drinks the sweet berry mountain juice.
The elusive moose is one to seduce
And she trollops with her calf at caboose.
The elusive moose seems to be a recluse
And our time is up so me must vamoose.

This poem is for our tourguide, who really was awesome. 🙂

ADAM
He's a wealth of information
With careful pauses of   ...  consideration.
He narrates as he drives the shuttle
With dad jokes that aren't too subtle.
Talking for hours with tales galore
He'll keep on going, even if you snore.
He'll get your ticket and get you there
And tell you exactly how, when, and where.
Be on time and don't be late.
The stress that'll cause him is too great.
He works hard to ensure our happy trip
So we will be sure not to forget his tip!

New Table Hangy Thingies

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My wonderful friend and colleague Sunny Lee Mowery, hooked me up with these awesome giant tubes that she used to make crayon table color mobile type things. When she mentioned on social media that she had some extra tubes, that is of course the first idea I had too! How perfect!

So they were really long tubes. And out of laziness and lack of resources (no saw) I was just going to leave them long. …and then I thought about how much more work it would be to paint and decorate a longer one, and how much more difficult it would be to hang it. So I made a trip to the local big box hardware store and bought a handsaw and and hacked those suckers in half:File_000 (2)That was not easy. But I got a good arm workout!

I took them outside laid them on a tarp and spray painted them. Again, I was feeling lazy… well really it was that I had a LOT of other stuff to accomplish and this felt like something I could shortcut. I even enlisted the help of a fellow teacher/friend from my school, Katy. (Thank you Katy!)File_000 (1)File_001 (2)

I was pretty into the little colorful sun shapes we were making on the tarp…File_008

File_001 (1)This is Ms. Katy who helped me. Yay Katy!! Thanks again!!

The following week, I had my student teacher for this fall, Mr. Romoero, help me decorate and hang them. BTW, I decided to not give them pointy tips and just call them pastels. (You know, b/c I am trying to conserve time here!) Mr. Romero wrote the colors in English and Spanish for me, and gave them a simple little swirl line.

I am pretty happy with the results and love color coding my room. Soon I will have my bins that will also match the color of the table. Colored tables, colored bins, colored pastel table identifier thingies… Rainbows everywhere!!! Below you can see a couple of them hanging in the room. Later on I will do a full room post showing how the room looks this year (not totally ready). File_002

Where does the time go??

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I had such great aspirations of writing a blog post every other day, but it’s just not happening right now… I am glad I moved my blog off of Tumblr. I hope WordPress proves to be better. At least now it will be easier to move it to blogspot/blogger (whatever it’s called now) if this doesn’t work out. I want to buy my domain, but I will wait to see if I like this host or not…Don’t know if that matters. Oh well.

Anyway, I wanted to write more and reflect on the lessons I did and write about the lessons I want to do, but frankly, there is just no time to do that. I am really gonna have to shove my ideas together last minute like I always do. And somehow, like always, everything comes together and works out. So with this post I will share some photos of a few projects we did this year. Let me go ahead and upload them, and maybe I will talk about whether or not I liked the project and if we will do it again. 🙂

5th grade name mandala- marker

5th grade name mandala- marker

1st grade Pop Art, Jasper Johns inspired Name Design- crayon resist

1st grade Pop Art, Jasper Johns inspired Name Design- crayon resist

2nd grade, black glue line flower still lif- crayon resist

2nd grade, black glue line flower still lif- crayon resist

Kindergarten, paper roller coaster sculptures

Kindergarten, paper roller coaster sculptures

Kindergarten, Eric Carle inspired painted paper and cut paper collage- tempera paint

Kindergarten, Eric Carle inspired painted paper and cut paper collage- tempera paint

Kindergarten, Van Gogh inspired sunflowers- Oil pastel with water color

Kindergarten, Van Gogh inspired sunflowers- Oil pastel with water color

1st grade symmetrical masks inspired by Tribal African Masks- cut paper

1st grade symmetrical masks inspired by Tribal African Masks- cut paper

1st grade Modigliani portraits- oil pastel

1st grade Modigliani portraits- oil pastel

6th grade- surreal 1pt perspective bedrooms- color pencil

6th grade- surreal 1pt perspective bedrooms- color pencil

7th grade- Op art color wheel- color pencil

7th grade- Op art color wheel- color pencil

7th grade-

7th grade- “All about me”- water color

Flowers traced on plexi with sharpie painted with acrylic....(student teacher taught lesson)

Flowers traced on plexi with sharpie painted with acrylic….(student teacher taught lesson)

IMG_0858

8th grade, Matisse inspired- cut paper

4th grade- Stacked name design- markers

4th grade- Stacked name design- markers

4th grade- op art inspired hand design- color pencil

4th grade- op art inspired hand design- color pencil

kindergarten- circles and loops- crayons

kindergarten- circles and loops- crayons

Kindergarten- Robert Frost poem inspired image...Cut/torn/painted paper

Kindergarten- Robert Frost poem inspired image…Cut/torn/painted paper

Kindergarten- gyotaku printing and bubble wrap printing- tempera paint

Kindergarten- gyotaku printing and bubble wrap printing- tempera paint

1st grade- glue line pumpkin drawing- chalk

1st grade- glue line pumpkin drawing- chalk

kindergarten- Mondrian inspired- crayon

kindergarten- Mondrian inspired- crayon

3rd grade- Kandinsky inspired composition- tempera paint

3rd grade- Kandinsky inspired composition- tempera paint

4th grade- Adaptive art lesson for Autistic Support student

4th grade- Adaptive art lesson for Autistic Support student

Okay… so I am realizing I have way more images of the kindergarten work. Let me explain. One of the kindergarten classes got to take art twice. Lucky them! We have art on rotation at my school. Quarterly that is- every quarter I get a new group, and sometimes it just works out that a class will get to repeat a special. So not only did kindergarten get to repeat art but they also tend to move through the projects super duper fast, hence lots of kinder art up above. I realize a goal of mine is to get them to be a little more thoughtful, but also to try and expose the other grades to more art without harming the process of their working habits and flow. There was some sculptural work done this year too. My student teacher did it, but I realize I did not take photos with my personal camera. They are on artsonia. BUT, that too is a goal of mine- to get more 3-dimensional work in each class and grade level. I was very apprehensive this year due to space limitations (storage), resources, not knowing the students and their abilities, and room climate, but this year will be different. Not everyone will be working in clay, and those who get clay won’t even be working in “real” clay, but still they will be exposed to the basics. So yeah. Good to have goals….let’s hope I can realize them. So dang ambitious. Ugh. Gives me anxiety.

Alright now. Looking at these projects… right off the bat- not doing the Kandinsky one again, unless I find a better version of it. I just don’t get enough of the students’ voice in it. Maybe we could do a mini version of it to learn about him and the elements of art, but I refuse to spend the time we did on those pieces to get such mechanical reproductions. I want to see more expressive work coming from my little darlins. On that note, as hypocritical as it sounds, I will keep my Mondrian, simply because it is an easy and fail safe project to do with the younger ones especially when teaching the primary colors. There are lots of other ways to do the Mondrian lesson though, and I may explore those options…

The “All about me Lesson” I borrowed from a friend. I loved the idea of it for the past two years, but I think I am done with it now. I may adapt it to something new… maybe. I’m not sure yet. I last used it to teach 8 different watercolor techniques to my 8th graders. Might try something with that, do away with the analogous color scheme, because frankly, they are still just grasping what the elements are and how to use the color wheel (last year was their very first year having art). So, yeah, baby steps.

I will still do Op art, maybe not the same ones, but the kids love those lessons. I know I need to scaffold the instructions better for all learners though. More goals. lol.

I’m keeping everything else. A few edits here and there of course as any good teacher would do. 🙂 I look forward to adding a lot more lessons and stressing myself out to the nth degree with all the extra work I will be giving myself. But I am sure the students will make some awesome stuff. Check in with me in a few months and see how I feel about it then. haha.

Art of Education online conference and swag

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 Last week I attended an online art ed conference hosted by The Art of Education. I registered early for $89 bucks, so I got that sweet swag you see above, as well as some digital swag including handouts and some discounts at some decent retailers like Blick art and a great discount to Arts and Activity magazine which I will be taking advantage of!

I truly enjoyed the convenience of doing a PD and conference from home at my computer, and I also enjoyed the format in which they chose to present the information. Doing short TED-like talks was a great way to deliver a lot of info in a little time, and we all have the ‘afterpass‘ to revisit the information AND the presenters put up additional information as well! Sooooo, if we need more, we can get more. Great!

I will say one thing I would have like to had beforehand would have been some of their handouts. I’m the type of gal who likes to follow along with the handouts when someone references them, so I felt a little wobbly at times- but really it was not that big of a deal due to the speed of the presentations. I probably would have been wobbly regardless. Ha! Drink your coffee woman and keep up! 😉

Well as far as the swag goes, I am most excited about the stuff Blick Art gave us. They also did a lesson on it during the conference. Basically it is this lesson on the golden ratio, incorporating math (geometry) real hardcore like. It can be taken down a few notches for the youngsters, but I like the idea of using this for my older kiddos. It uses Roylco tissue circles (which I will be buying out of pocket due to no budget), gridded paper, and glue sticks. I am excited to give it a whirl, especially with my handicap in mathematics… this should be interesting… haha.

Anyway, I am glad I gave the AOE conference a shot this summer. Can’t wait for the winter one! And then the next summer one, and then the next winter one! … Gues I always have PAEA and NAEA conferences to hold me over too. 😉

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6th Grade Identity Silhouettes

I did this lesson last year at my old school. I adore this lesson, and I think the students are really into it for the most part.

I borrowed the lesson from this art teacher.

In my introduction at my previous school we talked in length about Archimboldo and Cara Walker. I also had the students complete a Venn diagram comparing two of the artists silhouette styles. Then I had students make a list of 30 things that represented them. I had a large example of my own that showed my silhouette as well as my list next to it. While they were making their list and sketching their images of the 30 things, I was furiously tracing their silhouettes.

At my previous school, I did the project with 3rd-5th graders and they were fantastic. I of course had to edit what I showed of Walker’s work, but that’s no big deal. We took the time to talk out our ideas, and for them to sketch everything out.

This year at my new school I had a student teacher and she took on the project. She edited the lesson a little bit to speed it along, which I understand, but ultimately, I think some students work suffered from that. These kids have never had art before and their confidence and skill is lacking in what the can do. I know my student teacher did not feel the project was a success. I think she felt the students were not ready for this level of work, but I think they were and are. They just needed a little more guidance. The above images are 3 of those 6th graders, granted they are the more talented ones, but still- pretty darn good. Just looking at those I wouldn’t call the project a failure. The other silhouettes were half finished or poorly filled in space. In retrospect, I should have given her more feedback on how she delivered that lesson. My bad. It was my first student teacher. Lesson learned all around right? Don’t get me wrong, she was fantastic! She did some wonderful lessons with my students, and hopefully we stay in touch.

Teaching Artist talk @ Philadelphia City Hall with Eric Booth

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These are my notes from a lecture I went to on December 1st at City hall led by Eric Booth. …
Artist as catalysts

He had an experience in Australia… Teaching artistry-going global- toured Australia about that idea but they were not comfy with that term… They were looking at the phrase artist catalyst. Catalyst being a more reactive word that described what was happening more succinctly. 
Unesco art Ed conference- 1st one… No Americans at the conferences b/c they forgot to invite them! 
2 things the US has developed better than other countries:
Partnerships through art organizations and schools
Teaching artists
   Both through necessity 
Role of artists:
LINK 97% of Americans say the arts make a sig percent of difference 
27 say artists make a sig percent of difference 
2 definitions of art
All the art in those special buildings … For people who understand it (the art club) 7% of people
… We think the other 93% can see the same way if we just help them…
The other definition is art that just exists in their lives normally ie. Playing music, sewing, etc
“Anytime you see seeming polarities look for the commonalities that contain them both” -(look up name)
Get people to make art they care about!
Intrinsic vs instrumental values of art- pointless argument say Booth… 
You get the instrumental if you go through the inherent. Do it because it is interesting and awesome and the is vitality to it.
The artist experience- Expand your sense of the way the world is or might be.
Agent of artistic experience- there to support people’s capacity to slip into art
Collective impact- aligning the work of a few institutions to make a genuine value of the community to accomplish together…
Wholehearted contributors to the values of our community
6 purpose threads of teaching artistry:
Enhance the encounter with works of art
Skills development in the arts to deepen the development of art making skills
Arts integration- to catalyze the learning in nonart subjects
Community enhancement- to increase the livability of communities 
Social development- social capacities through arts (collective impact)
Other instrumental goals- working with non arts partners to achieve goals
Korea is increasing national happiness by hiring and training 5,000 teaching artists!!
Plato- teach its people to find pleasure in the right things- for a society to succeed – to be healthy and vital.
Frost-  from Two tramps in mudtime